Overview: Regardless of the size of your IT operation from a staff of thousands to just a few members, having good, well-written policies can make an IT leader’s job easier. All too often policies are written because they are required and a valuable tool in solid IT management is overlooked and underutilized. Many IT leaders fail to recognize the potential value or ROI from the resources and effort required to implement good policy. The down side of not having policy creates a struggle to get agreement or even acknowledgement of the processes IT leaders try to enact in order to realize some modicum of control. Good enterprise leadership should understand the need for acceptance and compliance from the user base if they are to provide dependable IT services and security with a predictable budget. 

Many times the policy process is over complicated with layers of unneeded procedures and poorly designed processes. IT policies should be targeted at the entire user base and written clearly enough for all to understand. Learn how to simplify the process and the language in order to reach the maximum number of users. This webinar will take you through the ABC’s of good policy structure and best practices that provide for a maintainable set of policies. We will also share outlines and ideas for wrapping up policies in a logical and meaningful package. We will review rationale behind the justifications as well as how policies can give stability to your budget. A good policy also has to have buy in and acceptance from stakeholders. IT support is a service and without clearly communicated expectations for both user and IT there is bound to be confusion and operational inefficiencies. You will learn why revamping or creating a viable change management process is essential for effective policies and how IT oversight can be more of a blessing than a curse. We will discuss the key techniques for gaining approval and acceptance. Learn how to clearly define the problem area or risk and how policies can solve or mitigate it. 

A point of discussion will be why creating and maintaining service levels along with an effective issue resolution process can strengthen user buy in. Learn the importance of maintaining good system documentation and why you should have a policy saying so. Once the users discover your IT operations not only follow the policies but live up to posted response times, your IT support burden will become much more predictable. One of the most overlooked areas of good policy is the importance of Marketing your IT Policies and making the user population aware. Coupled with a good security awareness program, regular communications with something as simple as a newsletter can improve your relationship with the users and gain good will. By understanding some basic marketing and informative writing techniques, the users will become much more invested and engaged with the process. 

Finally we will discuss how to modularize policy components for reuse in new or revamped policies as well as the importance of a regular review and update of your policies The webinar is not geared for a single approach and will incorporate multiple scenario based discussion that will help revise existing or create new IT policies. The webinar will run for 90 minutes +/- with a Q&A session to follow. Please join us for an informative and webinar that can improve any IT operation regardless of size. 

Why should you attend: Policies are an absolute critical component for IT operations and support. Without them you have no baseline to measure your productivity and effectiveness; no way to enforce user compliance; no way to ensure information security. This webinar is much more than your typical ‘how to write policy’ workshop. In this webinar you will learn how to make Policy your friend and ally. Not only will you learn how to write effective and understandable policies but why you should write them and how to convince leadership of their absolute necessity. A well written and thoughtful policy can not only ease your IT support pains, but add some budget stability and some real cost savings. 

Whether you are starting from scratch or would like to revise and improve your policies, this webinar will help you understand the important elements and structure of good, effective IT Policies. 

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Policy Fact & Fiction - misconceptions, myths and truths
• Policy Types and uses
• Justification - Identify, define and sell the need
• Change Management and IT oversights - Key Components
• The trade off - Service Levels and following your own policies - Insurance for Compliance
• Basic Policy Structure
  • Purpose
  • Scope
  • Policy
  • Procedures
  • Enforcement
  • Documents
  • References
• IT Policy elements
  • Charter - Organization and Responsibility
  • Management & Administration
  • Risk Management
  • IT Support/Computer Center operations
  • Access Controls and Authorizations
  • Workforce Compliance and Acceptable Use
  • Physical Security and Inventory
  • Budget
• Writing the Policies
• Getting the Policy approved
• Policy Awareness, Communications and Marketing
• Documentation
• Wrappers
• Modules and reuse
• Revisions and policy maintenance

Who Will Benefit:

• CIO, CFO, CISO
• IT Director/Manager
• ITSM team leaders
• HR or other persons involved in policy development